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The Maison de l’Europe des Yvelines (MdEY) is a 1901 law association, created in 2001 and made up of 3 employees, 12 members administrators and volunteers. This is a member of the FFME, a network of 38 structures in France. It shares a building with three other entities (a free University dedicated to elderly people, the Vera Museum and an association of Solidarity with Immigrant Workers of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Approvals:
-Youth and popular education awarded by the Departmental Directorate of Social Cohesion.
-Complementary educational association awarded by the Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sports.
- Training centre.

Target Audience: audiences of all backgrounds, especially young people from all socio-economic backgrounds. We really thing, that for each young person, there is a realistic solution. We are in regular contact with partner organizations such as Missions Locales (=Youth job centres), schools, universities, youth centres. We invite young people looking for work, NEETS, or students in gap year, to follow educational modules adapted to go on mobility in Europe. We offer European courses to teachers, elected representatives, and regional officials, but also to employees and volunteers.

Aims: to make our audiences into citizens who are active in their lives. To make them discover citizenship in a concrete way, or to strengthen it for some. To democratize international mobility to trigger a real awareness in terms of intercultural openness.

Any experience lived in a group increases the capacities of young people. Collective emulation makes them more confident. We see that opportunities abroad are making a real difference in mind-sets. Young people, who are more confident, are able to take initiatives, defend their ideas, argue and develop their critical sense.
These experiences affect their maturity. On the other hand, to serve the needs of the territory, the MdEY is developing local and European projects involving volunteers and partners. By getting involved, participants develop their skills through non-formal, informal and professional learning. They become our ambassadors by witnessing their journey during our events. The MdEY wishes to continue these missions by obtaining the CES label.

Activities:
For 20 years, the MdEY has coordinated civic projects. The impact of which have been measured in the areas of citizenship, mobility and the acquisition of skills. Solidarity and the notion of inclusion are at the heart of its concerns.
For citizenship, a project such as “CitiPart – Partnership of cities for the defence of the fundamental values of the European Union, against extremism and populism” (2015/2017) made the participants reflect on solidarity, tolerance, peace, and influence them in their lives. In 2018, five citizens’ consultations the future of Europe were carried at school and outside. This citizen approach is also the result of a French-German-Polish Youth Parliament (2006/2013) which gave rise to transnational initiatives such as Europe Mobile, a traveling bus transporting European students to visit establishments in the Ile de France region. For the 2017/2019 period, the MdEY has participated in a KA2 Strategic Partnership entitled “Active citizenship in rural areas” where again the involvement of people at the local level (France, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Netherlands, and Greece) allow the transmission of good civic practices. This project will continue from 2020 to 2023 under the title “Green Initiatives in Rural Areas”. Citizenship also rhymes with education in the French-German project “BücherboXX – BiblioboXX, started in 2012, which aims to involve students in vocational fields in transformation of telephone booths into street libraries and to contribute to sustainable development.

The MdEY has initiated two mobility projects for adult’s education. The first one (2011/2013), entitled “Back to our roots, Europe for everybody!” has received an award in the citizenship category from the Erasmus Agency and involved nearly 200 participants of all generations (Turkey, Germany, France, England) in recycling film workshops on the theme of family memory. Young people with less opportunities participated and contributed through interviews and reports (Yvelines 1ère, Euronews).

The second one (2019/2021) offers training courses to act on behavioural know-how. It will continue over the period 2021/2027, the MdEY having received its accreditation as for our project « Mouv’in Europe », within the framework of the VET (11 sessions). Since 2008, this system has made it possible to send nearly 200 young people to work placements in Europe. Young people receive a Europass Mobility certificate.
Accredited as an EVS sending structure since 2008 (renewed until the end of 2021), the MdEY welcomed two young Europeans (2008, and 2010) and received more than 400 young people in its office. 10 % of them were volunteers accompanied by the MdEY in a voluntary program.